Scottish Executive

Environment

Mrs Margaret Ewing (Moray) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what representations have been made by it or the Scottish Environment Protection Agency to the European Commission regarding the conclusions of the report by the Spey Research Trust, The Effect of Distillery Cooling Water Discharge on Adult Salmon Run Time in the River Fiddich .

Rhona Brankin: None.

Fireworks

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many people were injured by fireworks in the City of Edinburgh in November of each year since 1997.

Malcolm Chisholm: The number of fireworks injuries dealt with by Edinburgh hospitals for the years

  1997–2000 are shown in the following table:

  


Year 
  

Total 
  

Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh 
  

Royal Hospital for Sick Children 
  

Western General Hospital 
  



1997 
  

4 
  

1 
  

2 
  

1 
  



1998 
  

4 
  

- 
  

3 
  

1 
  



1999 
  

7 
  

5 
  

2 
  

- 
  



2000 
  

3 
  

- 
  

3 
  

- 
  



  Source: Fireworks Injuries Survey.

Fireworks

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many people in the City of Edinburgh were (a) charged and (b) convicted of the sale of fireworks to minors in each year since 1997.

Mr Jim Wallace: The information requested is not separately identifiable in the data held centrally, from other crimes relating to the keeping and supply of explosives.

Fisheries

Alex Johnstone (North-East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how much it currently costs to decommission a wooden fishing vessel in a way that conforms to all relevant environmental requirements.

Rhona Brankin: The costs involved are likely to vary according to circumstances including, for example, the proposed method of decommissioning and the characteristics of the vessel involved.

  Scheme guidance material made clear that the owners of fishing vessels considering bidding for decommissioning grant should explore the costs involved in decommissioning their vessel, and we expect those costs to be reflected in grant bids.

Genetically Modified Organisms

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the consumption of genetically modified organisms can cause allergic reactions.

Malcolm Chisholm: I am advised that the Food Standards Agency (FSA) is unaware of any evidence suggesting a direct link between the symptoms of food allergy and any genetically modified (GM) food or ingredient.

  All GM foods are subject to a rigorous safety assessment before they can be marketed in the EU. The FSA is the UK competent authority for approving GM foods, and is advised on this subject by an independent body called the Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes (ACNFP). ACNFP considers potential allergenicity in its assessment of all GM and other novel foods.

Health

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the attendance rate at meetings was for each board member of the Health Education Board for Scotland in each of the last three years.

Susan Deacon: Attendance rates for the last three full calendar years, as well as the current calendar year to date, are given in the table.

  





1998 
  

1999 
  

2000 
  

2001 
  



Member 
  




Possible 
  

Actual 
  

Possible 
  

Actual 
  

Possible 
  

Actual 
  

Possible 
  

Actual 
  



David Campbell1


9 
  

9 
  

10 
  

10 
  

10 
  

9 
  

6 
  

6 
  



Margaret Alexander2


9 
  

6 
  

10 
  

8 
  

10 
  

9 
  

2 
  

2 
  



Anne Carrie3


4 
  

3 
  

10 
  

6 
  

8 
  

5 
  









Jean Couper4


9 
  

5 
  

10 
  

6 
  

10 
  

8 
  

6 
  

4 
  



Zoë Dunhill5











7 
  

5 
  

10 
  

7 
  

7 
  

6 
  



Frances Elliot6


9 
  

5 
  

10 
  

7 
  

10 
  

7 
  

7 
  

5 
  



Charles Forbes7


9 
  

7 
  

2 
  

1 
  















Angus Ford8


9 
  

6 
  

2 
  

1 
  















Lesley Hinds9


4 
  

3 
  

10 
  

8 
  

10 
  

8 
  

7 
  

6 
  



William Howatson6


9 
  

7 
  

10 
  

7 
  

10 
  

8 
  

7 
  

5 
  



Michael Lean6


9 
  

8 
  

10 
  

4 
  

10 
  

3 
  

7 
  

3 
  



Gillian McIlwaine10


9 
  

7 
  

10 
  

8 
  

10 
  

8 
  

2 
  

0 
  



Marion Taylor11


4 
  

3 
  

10 
  

8 
  

10 
  

8 
  

7 
  

7 
  



  Notes:

  1. David Campbell’s term of office ended in September 2001.

  2. Margaret Alexander’s term of office ended in March 2001.

  3. Anne Carrie joined the board in July 1998 and resigned in September 2000.

  4. Jean Couper’s term of office ended in September 2001.

  5. Zoë Dunhill joined the board in April 1999.

  6. Frances Elliot, William Howatson and Michael Lean all remained in post for the period covered by this answer.

  7. Charles Forbes’ term of office ended in March 1999.

  8. Angus Ford’s term of office ended in March 1999.

  9. Lesley Hinds joined the board in July 1998.

  10. Gillian McIlwaine’s term of office ended in March 2001.

  11. Marion Taylor joined the board in July 1998.

Historic Scotland

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive (a) what checks and balances it intends to establish in relation to Historic Scotland and (b) how the built heritage will be protected, once the Historic Buildings Council for Scotland has been abolished.

Allan Wilson: Through Historic Scotland, the Scottish Executive is currently consulting on the proposal to abolish the Historic Buildings Council of Scotland as part of the Review of Public Bodies. Historic Scotland is the part of the Scottish Executive which supports Scottish ministers in carrying out their statutory responsibilities for the protection and presentation of Scotland’s built heritage. Historic Scotland is directly accountable to Scottish ministers and the checks and balances applied are the same as with any other equivalent Executive agency.

Historic Scotland

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what processes will be put in place to enable Historic Scotland to seek external advice and to select external advisors once the Historic Buildings Council for Scotland has been abolished.

Allan Wilson: Through Historic Scotland, the Scottish Executive is currently consulting on the proposal to abolish the Historic Buildings Council of Scotland as part of the Review of Public Bodies and also on the proposal that, if the council were abolished, expert advice would continue to be sought from external sources, but in a more focussed, more inclusive and less institutional way.

Housing

Dorothy-Grace Elder (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-17550 by Jackie Baillie on 13 September 2001, what discussions it has had with Her Majesty’s Treasury about writing off Glasgow City Council’s housing debt without any requirement for the council’s housing tenants to vote for housing stock transfer.

Ms Margaret Curran: On 18 September it was announced that the debt arrangements which apply to the housing transfer programme in England would be extended to Scotland (and Wales). These arrangements will only apply where a council transfers its housing stock into community ownership.

Information Technology

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether, as part of its broadband strategy, it has information on how many British Telecom operated telephone exchanges have installed Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber Line equipment

Ms Wendy Alexander: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-17355 on 1 October 2001.

Justice

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many people in the City of Edinburgh were (a) charged and (b) convicted of the sale of solvents to minors in each year since 1997.

Mr Jim Wallace: The available information shows that no persons were proceeded against, or convicted of, the sale of solvents to minors in Edinburgh sheriff court or district court between 1997 and 1999. Information for 2000 is not yet available.

Libraries

Fiona McLeod (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the level of funding in the National Library of Scotland was in each of the past five years.

Allan Wilson: The information is set out in the following table:

  





Grant (£) 
  

Total Grant (£) 
  



Running Costs 
  

Capital Projects 
  

Purchase Grants 
  



1997-98 
  

8,614,000 
  

2,100,000 
  

1,103,000 
  

11,817,000 
  



1998-99 
  

8,724,345 
  

2,100,000 
  

958,000 
  

11,782,345 
  



1999-2000 
  

8,737,000 
  

2,100,000 
  

958,000 
  

11,795,000 
  



2000-01 
  

8,817,000 
  

2,100,000 
  

1,058,000 
  

11,975,000 
  



2001-02 
  

9,297,000 
  

200,000 
  

1,058,000 
  

10,555,000 
  



Total 
  

57,924,345

Lifelong Learning

Miss Annabel Goldie (West of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive when the virtual "Accessible University" in the north-east will be operational.

Ms Wendy Alexander: I am advised that the "3sixty University for Children and Communities" is a project managed by the North Forum for Widening Participation in Higher Education and has been operating in Aberdeen and the surrounding area since last year. The project benefits from funding under Scottish Higher Education Funding Council's Wider Access Grant and is aimed at widening access to higher education for those from areas of low participation through the creation of a virtual "Accessible University". The detailed management of the project is a matter for the forum.

Planning

Ian Jenkins (Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many notices of intention to develop which involved the loss of playing fields, it has received from each local authority in each year since 1996.

Lewis Macdonald: Since January 1996, 538 notices of intention to develop have been received from councils. However, categorisation for statistical purposes does not specifically identify those involving a loss of playing fields and retrieval of this information could only be undertaken at disproportionate cost.

Police

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many officers have (a) retired or (b) resigned from Lothian and Borders Police Force in each year since 1997, broken down by (i) gender, (ii) age profile and (iii) length of service and how many took early retirement in each year broken down similarly.

Mr Jim Wallace: The information requested for Lothian and Borders Police is shown in the following table. Information on age profile and early retirements is not held centrally.

  


Retirement 
  

1997-98 
  

1998-99 
  

1999-2000 
  

2000-01 
  



M 
  

F 
  

M 
  

F 
  

M 
  

F 
  

M 
  

F 
  



on completion of 25-30 years service 
  

34 
  

0 
  

42 
  

1 
  

15 
  

1 
  

24 
  

0 
  



on completion of over 30 years service 
  

10 
  

0 
  

0 
  

0 
  

24 
  

0 
  

13 
  

0 
  



on ill-health pension 
  

17 
  

5 
  

24 
  

8 
  

28 
  

4 
  

30 
  

5 
  



on gratuity 
  

0 
  

0 
  

0 
  

0 
  

0 
  

0 
  

0 
  

0 
  



compulsory 
  

0 
  

0 
  

0 
  

0 
  

0 
  

0 
  

0 
  

0 
  



Total 
  

61 
  

5 
  

66 
  

9 
  

67 
  

5 
  

67 
  

5 
  



  


Voluntary Resignation: 
  

1997-98 
  

1998-99 
  

1999-2000 
  

2000-01 
  



M 
  

F 
  

M 
  

F 
  

M 
  

F 
  

M 
  

F 
  



during probation 
  

4 
  

3 
  

3 
  

4 
  

1 
  

2 
  

5 
  

2 
  



with 2-10 years service 
  

4 
  

5 
  

13 
  

5 
  

7 
  

2 
  

10 
  

4 
  



with 10-20 years service 
  

1 
  

0 
  

0 
  

0 
  

1 
  

0 
  

1 
  

1 
  



with 20-25 years service 
  

0 
  

0 
  

2 
  

0 
  

0 
  

0 
  

0 
  

0 
  



Total 
  

9 
  

8 
  

18 
  

9 
  

9 
  

4 
  

16 
  

7 
  



  Source: Annual Statistical Returns from forces.

Police

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many officers from the Lothian and Borders Police Force were on secondment in the year 2000, and which organisation or post each officer was seconded to.

Mr Jim Wallace: This is a matter for Lothian and Borders Police. The information requested is not held centrally.

Police

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many officers of Lothian and Borders Police will be eligible to retire for each year between now and 2010.

Mr Jim Wallace: This is a matter for Lothian and Borders Police. The information requested is not held centrally.

Police

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many officers of the Lothian and Borders Police Force were (a) recruited, (b) on secondment and (c) on long-term sick leave in each year since 1997.

Mr Jim Wallace: The information requested for Lothian and Borders Police on recruitment and long-term sick leave is shown in the following table. The number of officers on secondment is not held centrally.

  

 

1997-98 
  

1998-99 
  

1999-2000 
  

2000-01 
  



Number of Recruits 
  

26 
  

32 
  

62 
  

189 
  



Number of long-term sick absences 
  

254 
  

251 
  

296 
  

254 
  



  Source: Annual Statistical Returns from forces.

  Note:

  Long-term sick absence is defined as sick leave of more than 28 calendar days.

Prison Service

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to questions S1W-18201 and S1W-18189, why it will not publish information on the number of whole-time equivalent nursing posts there currently are and the social work cost per prisoner and whether this is in line with its current freedom of information policy.

Mr Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:

  Figures giving the whole-time equivalent nursing posts in all SPS-run prisons were published in the answer to question S1W-18201. The figure for Kilmarnock was not included as the arrangements at Kilmarnock Prison are different. Under the contract, outputs for health care services are specified and, consequently, it is not a matter for SPS how many staff posts are involved. The contract is monitored to ensure that outputs are provided to the required standard.

  In relation to question S1W-18189 (social work costs), the same considerations as above apply to the provision of social work services at Kilmarnock. Costs of individual elements of the contract are not disclosed. As in the previous answer, the total cost of social work provision for SPS-run prisons for 2000-01 was £2.18 million for an average prison population within SPS prisons of 5,600. This approximates to an average annual cost per prisoner of £390.

Prison Service

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-18203 by Mr Jim Wallace on 28 September 2001, whether it will give a breakdown of the table in Appendix 5 to the Scottish Prison Service Annual Report and Accounts 1999-2000 on "breaches of discipline committed and punishments awarded in establishments" to show how many times disciplinary action was taken against prisoners in each prison, including HM Prison Kilmarnock, in 1999-2000.

Mr Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

  The tables give details of the number of breaches of discipline committed and the punishments awarded in establishments during the financial year 2000-01.

  


Breaches by Establishment 
  

Total 
  



Barlinnie 
  

1,509 
  



Aberdeen 
  

1,017 
  



Castle Huntly 
  

129 
  



Cornton Vale 
  

669 
  



Dumfries 
  

601 
  



Dungavel 
  

9 
  



Edinburgh 
  

1,154 
  



Friarton 
  

1 
  



Glenochil Prison 
  

1,381 
  



Glenochil YOI 
  

859 
  



Greenock 
  

741 
  



Inverness 
  

328 
  



Longriggend 
  

13 
  



Low Moss 
  

746 
  



Noranside 
  

65 
  



Perth 
  

1,669 
  



Peterhead 
  

406 
  



Polmont 
  

2,023 
  



Shotts 
  

3,575 
  



Shotts Unit 
  

2 
  



Shotts NIC 
  

53 
  



Kilmarnock 
  

3,499 
  



Cornton Vale YOI 
  

352 
  



Grand Total 
  

20,801 
  



  


Punishments by Establishment 
  

Total 
  



Barlinnie 
  

2,613 
  



Aberdeen 
  

1,241 
  



Castle Huntly 
  

112 
  



Cornton Vale 
  

1,121 
  



Dumfries 
  

1,191 
  



Dungavel 
  

8 
  



Edinburgh 
  

2,103 
  



Friarton 
  

1 
  



Glenochil Prison 
  

1,780 
  



Glenochil YOI 
  

1,419 
  



Greenock 
  

987 
  



Inverness 
  

381 
  



Longriggend 
  

16 
  



Low Moss 
  

755 
  



Noranside 
  

67 
  



Perth 
  

2,678 
  



Peterhead 
  

549 
  



Polmont 
  

3,329 
  



Shotts 
  

3,760 
  



Shotts Unit 
  

3 
  



Shotts NIC 
  

55 
  



Kilmarnock 
  

8,273 
  



Cornton Vale YOI 
  

560 
  



Grand Total 
  

33,002

Scottish Executive

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive who is responsible for security in the Scottish Executive; what increased security has been provided following the recent terrorist attacks in the United States of America; from what budget are security costs met, and what this budget currently is.

Angus MacKay: Responsibility for security, on a day to day basis, is delegated to the Departmental Security Officer. The security measures in place at any one time are appropriate to the perceived threat. It would be inappropriate to detail the measures deployed. Security costs are met from the Scottish Executive Administration budget. The direct costs related to Security Branch for the current year is £1.6 million.

Victim Support

Scott Barrie (Dunfermline West) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when it plans to consult on the procedures of a victim’s statements scheme in accordance with the commitment given in the Scottish Strategy for Victims.

Mr Jim Wallace: I am pleased to announce that the consultation document on the procedures for a victims’ statement scheme is being published today. Copies are being sent to a range of voluntary and statutory agencies. It is also available through the Parliament’s Reference Centre and it will be available on the Scottish Executive website. The consultation period will end on 14 December 2001.